Journey of a lifetime
by Ctp Drake
Summary: The Kanto region has suffered from a great drepesion, that has led to much poverty and a big difference between the rich and the poor. In this story we follow and old journalist knows as Drake and how his adventure starts of with a chance meeting. As the story goes on there will be a deeper dive into how the depression has chaged the Kanto region and the trainer world in Kanto.
1. A chance meeting

" _Welcome to the world of Pokémon, this world is inhabited by mysterious creatures knows as Pokémon's. For some Pokémon are friends, family, partners in battle, for others they are a study of a life time."_

In the town of Saffron, the biggest city in the Kanto region, in a dark alleyway, where card boxes are stacked together to try and create some cover from the weather, A dark-haired man sits in between two stacks of boxes looking at the other side of the alley. He looks at the Riolu in front of him that is making weird movements, signaling for him to stand up. The man's face looks rough. He has a scar over one of his eyes, there are a few stubs of a growing beard. The man looks at the Riolu with empty eyes, wondering what it wants him to do. As he tries to understand what the Pokémon wants him to do, he hears a howl that pierces his ear. The howl makes him realize what the Riolu has been doing all along. It had been trying to warn him of whatever was making that howl. He began to stand up when a black shadow jumped upon the Riolu. The man rushed to try and help the Pokémon who was trying to help him. He got a clear sight of the shadow; it was a dark looking dog, and from what he could remember it was probably a Houndour the dark Pokémon. Riolu tried to push the Houndour off, but the man could see it was failing. He ran with all the force he could muster and tackled the dark Pokémon. As he hit the dog, Riolu pushed as well, and succeeded in getting the dog off himself. Blood was running down Riolu's face where Houndour had clawed and bitten him. The man grabbed the Riolu put it on his back and started running as fast as he could. As he was running he could hear the Houndour, howling even louder than before.

As he was nearing the end of the alley, two more of the dark looking dogs appeared in front of the exit. "Shit" he thought. He looked for a way out of the alley, and noticed a nearby ladder. With the Riolu on his back he yelled "hold on back there!" He got to the ladder right before the dogs got to him. When he reached a safe spot he looked down and saw the dogs were waiting below. He put down the Riolu and noticed that the injuries that it had suffered were beginning to close. He decided to stay here and wait for help to arrive.

 _A couple of hours go by_

Still sitting on the fire escape, it was starting to become dark and the Riolu had not woken up yet. He had sat there for the hours and had begun to wonder why the Houndours had attacked the alleyway. He hoped the other homeless people did not show up today. The Houndours were starting to get bored of waiting, as their prey was in a place they could not reach, but it seemed they did not want to leave yet. He heard a ruffling sound to his right, and he saw the Riolu opening his eyes. The Pokémon stared at him with its bright brown eyes, and started to look around to find out if it was in a safe spot. When it realized it was safe it looked at the man that had saved it from the Houndours. It released a small cry at the person that was staring at it, hoping it would bring the person out of its trance. The man looked at the Riolu and said with a warm smile, "Hello there, my names Drake, thanks for warning me." Riolu made a small squeal and put out a clenched fist. Drake understood what the Riolu wanted. They gave each other a fist bump. "So how did you end up in Saffron City? If I am not wrong Riolus are rare in Kanto," Drake said with a cheerful voice. Riolu responded with various movements. He pointed at Drake, and formed a ball looking thing with his hands. "Ahh you were once a trainer's Pokémon," Drake said, understanding the Riolu's motions. Riolu released a loud squeal, when Drake had understood him.

 _Hours went by sitting on the fire escape waiting for the Houndours to leave the area. Drake and Riolu kept communicating trying to understand each other as best as possible. When the Houndours had finally left it was a new day._

"Seems like they finally buggered off" Drake said with a very tired voice, Riolu released a yawn and stretched out from its slumber. "Let us get you to a Pokémon center so they can take care of those injuries" said Drake, and Riolu scratched its head, wondering what a Pokémon center was. Drake went over to Riolu, picked him up and asked him to take a grip around his neck so he could carry him down the ladder. As they slowly descended the ladder Drake noticed all the damage the Houndours had done to the nearby area. There were scorch marks around the area as they had waited for Drake and Riolu to come down. Drake hoped that no one else had encountered those Houndours. After leaving Riolu at the Pokémon center, he needed to get a hold of an officer and ask them to handle the Houndours.

 _Walking towards the nearest Pokémon center in Saffron City took around half an hour. Since Saffron was the biggest city in Kanto it had four Centers to accommodate the trainers and non-trainers living in the city. Saffron was as beautiful as ever. The skyscrapers cast off the sun shining upon them, a signature of Saffron City. Riolu was looking around with a shine in his eyes. He had not noticed all the tall buildings or the small parks where it seemed like other Pokémons were training, when he had overheard the Houndours talking about attacking the nearby alleyway that Drake was sitting in. They reached a big building with a red roof that had a pokéball logo on it the doors opened automatically and they entered the building._

As they entered Drake, noticed that there was not a lot of people or Pokémon in line for treatment. They got to the nurse quite fast, and asked if they could treat this Riolu. The nurse asked for a trainer ID and the pokéball for the Riolu. Drake told her that he had no trainer ID and no pokéball, and that this Riolu had gotten injured saving him from a pack of wild Houndours. The nurse told Drake that the Riolu could get treatment here. but suggested that he afterwards made sure that it was returned to the wild if he had no plan to keep it as a Pokémon. Riolu looked at Drake with gleaming eyes that shined with the hope that he could get to stay with Drake. Drake asked the nurse where he could get ahold of a cheap pokéball since he was quite short on money now due to the financial crisis that had recently hit Kanto. The nurse replied with a smile on her face, "wait here". The nurse returned holding a red and white ball in her left hand, gave it to Drake and said, "here you go young man, help this Pokémon." Drake looked at Riolu and asked if he wanted to be his first partner. Riolu nodded, extatically. Drake stared at the pokéball, trying to figure out how to use it, and the nurse explained that he should press the middle button that separates the red and white parts, and it would expand. Drake did so, the pokéball expanded, and a red beam came out and sucked Riolu inside. Suprised Drake dropped it on the floor. Nearby people noticed and let out a slight giggle. The ball made a clicking sound, and then the nurse explained that Riolu was now officially captured. Drake handed over the ball to the nurse so she could take care of Riolus injuries.

 _A couple of minutes later_

"Thanks for waiting, give him a few days rest and he will be fit for fighting again" the nurse said. Drake nodded and thanked her all the help. Once he exited the center he released Riolu, and Drake was just as surprised as he when the ball had sucked Riolu. Riolus face, was healed, and it seemed like he had suffered no scaring from the claw marks he had endured. Drake looked at Riolu, and asked "so what shall I call you from now on?". Riolu laid his head in Drake's hands wondering what he meant. Riolu started to run towards a park nearby. Drake could nearly not keep up with Riolu, but luckily Riolu did not run too far. Riolu entered Central Saffron Park. Central Saffron Park was located near two of the four Pokémon Centers in town to accommodate all the training that went on in the park. Riolu squealed at Drake and pointed towards a punching bag. The punching bag was in a small training field meant for human use and not for Pokémon as far as Drake knew. Riolu ran towards the Punching bag and started to do various punches on the punching bag, until he hit it so hard that it flew straight back into his face

"Riolu!" Drake yelled. Riolu flew back one meter and steadily got back on his feet and started moving back towards the punching bag. Drake was running towards Riolu when he realized that Riolu was about to do it again. He got between the punching bag and Riolu's face before it flew this time. "Riolu, if you want to train, let me hold the bag for you", Drake said with a determined voice. Riolus eyes shined brighter when he heard those words from his new friend.

 _Riolu and Drake stayed in the park for many hours training on the punching bag._ _Even though there were_ _no more face plants, Drake was starting to feel the fatigue kicking in from a bad night_ _'s_ _sleep and the vibration_ _s_ _the bag was sending towards him. Riolu too looked like he was about to collapse from all the combos he had been laying on the bag._

"Riolu's let quit for today and find a place to get some food". Drake said with a clearly fatiued voice. Riolu's ears peaked up when he heard "food." He squealed and started to climb Drake's back, very much to Drake's surprise. Riolu sat down on his shoulders. Drake started to laugh, he could not remember the last time he had had this much fun.

 _Drake started walking towards the nearest homeless shelter, where he an Riolu could get a warm meal for the night._

The homeless shelter was in an old hotel building that had been abandoned when this part of Saffron had crumbled to the depression. The exterior paint had started to crumble under the weather effect. There were only slight pieces of the once red paint on it, the door into the building had cardboard over the places where there once had been windows. As Drake and Riolu entered the building they instantly got hit with the smell of a meal being cooked. They followed the arrows that said "Cantina."

When Drake and Riolu entered the cantina, they were hit with a bright beam of light; the cantina's roof was made entirely out of glass. There were plenty of people in the room and luckily, also a few Pokémons. They noticed a short line of people standing in front of a serving cart. Drake walked over to stand in line to wait for his turn to receive food. As he got to the cart he was handed a tray with some brown porridge and a small piece of white bread. Drake asked for anything for his friend, and pointed at Riolu on his shoulder. The server placed a bowl of pokéfood on Drake's serving tray. Drake said his thanks and looked for a place to sit down.

He found a table in the rightmost corner where no one was sitting. He wondered why no one was sitting in this spot. The light had the perfect angle not to be annoying, but was plentiful enough to keep one warm. He put his tray down and placed Riolu's bowl right next to him on the table. Drake said, "eat up!" and began to eat the food, and Riolu followed suit. He squealed when the pokéfood hit his tongue. Drake wonder if it tasted better than his porridge. It was quite bland, after all, but he could not complain. A meal was a meal.

Suddenly, the door to the cantina swung open very violently. A bulky build man busted in, wearing a black leather jacket. The other people stopped staring after they saw who it was, but Drake kept starring and wonder why he had walked in so aggressively. The man started walking towards Drake, at a rapid pace, Drake could not stop staring.

"Hey idiot, what are you doing in my spot?" the bulky man said with a rough voice. When Drake heard the words, he just looked blankly at the man for a few seconds and went back to eating his porriage.

"HEY IDIOT, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION," the man yelled at Drake, Drake ignored him and kept eating calmly. The man walked over to Drake and grabbed him by the shoulder. Out of instinct, Drake grabbed him by the arm and flung him over the shoulder. The man crashed down on the floor, and the crowd gasped. Drake quickly got up from the bench, ready for whatever the bulky man was planning to do one he got up. Riolu wondered what was going on here. Drake had, with ease, flung a man double his size over his shoulder while sitting down. Riolu knew he had found the right person to befriend.

The bulky man got on his feet and began charging towards Drake. Drake dodged the man with ease, sidestepping him and putting his leg out to trip him. The man fell flat on the floor again. The man now got up in rage and took off his jacket. Somebody came running out of the kitchen.

"Toran what in the world are you doing?" the red-haired women asked. The bulky man looked at her. "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE, AVIAN, THIS IDIOT TOOK MY SPOT!" he yelled with blood-sprung eyes. Avian looked at Drake and started to laugh, "Toran, you do know who this is, right?" she asked with a grin in her voice. Toran looked at Drake, and then it hit him. It was the combat journalist that had gone into a building on fire to save a kid and his Pokémon. Toran quickly calmed down and apologized to Drake and said that he was sorry to mess with the hero of the historic Saffron Hotel fire. Drake hated hearing that title it drew unnecessary attention, and after the crowd had realized who it was, clapped and yelled a big cheer for the hero of Saffron Hotel.

In the meantime, Riolu had finished eating, and wondering what all the loud noise was about. "Okay guys, please stop using that title. I do not like it, I did not do anything different than the average fireman would." Drake said with a shaking voice. Avian noticed the shaking in Drake's voice and reinforced "okay guys, leave the guy alone. He is here to eat, not be asked for autographs." Drake nodded to Avian and sat down again, hoping to promptly to finish his meal and leave.

Then Toran sat down in front of him. "So, you been in the field too?" Toran asked with a calm voice. Drake was surprised how quickly Toran had changed his attitude towards him, damn story he thought. "Yes" Drake answered, short and concise, hoping for no further questions. Toran however, was not finnished. Drake kept replying with short answers, he did not want to dig into that past right now. He had experienced things that he did not want to remember from his time as a journalist in combat zones.

As Toran's question started to thin out, Drake thought it was about time he found a place to sleep for the night. Drake stood up and Riolu climbed up to sit on his shoulder again. Toran noticed this and said, "So you are a Pokémon trainer too, I challenge you to a battle." Drake turned to him and said tiredly "My partner here cannot fight now, he got injured earlier today, and I do not want to put him in danger."

Toran looked at Drake and said, "I can wait for your partner to be fit for a fight. It does not need to be now." As the crowd started listening into the conversation, they looked at the two men that had a fought not more than 30 minutes ago. Drake started feeling all eyes on him, and pressure that he could not back out of this challenge. With a loud sigh Drake said, "I accept your challenge, but the fight will first be in five days to make sure my partner is fit to fight." The crowd boomed when they heard Drakes acceptance. Drake quickly left before the crowd charged at him for autographs.

 _As Drake and Riolu got outside the hotel, the sun was beginning to set._

Drake had a spot in mind for a good night sleep. Where no Houndours would appear, to attack him and his new partner. They began their walk towards Saffron City's Pokémon Hotel for new trainers. Drake did not have a trainer ID, since he had never had a Pokémon before today. The Pokémon hotel was a beam of light when Drake and Riolu finally arrived at it. There was so much light it nearly hurt their eyes, over the entrance to the hotel it read, "For all trainers from beginners to champions."

As they entered the hotel, Drake noticed that inside the building the light was weaker than on the outside, perhaps due to the dark paint on the wall that absorbed much of the neon light that was over the lobby area. Drake went up to the receptionist and asked if there were any cheap rooms available for a new trainer without a trainer ID. The receptionist told him to wait for a few minutes. As the minutes went by Drake and Riolu sat down on a nearby sofa, and Drake was nearly falling asleep when the receptionist returned. He told Drake the cheapest room he could offer the two of them would cost around 200 pokédollars per night. Drake had in his savings roughly 1000 pokédollars that he had saved up from working cheap labor. He booked the room for 5 nights. The receptionist welcomed to the Pokémon Hotel where beginners and champions can enjoy a stay.

 _Drake and Riolu were led to their room, where they_ _were_ _told that baths of course was included in the pri_ _c_ _e of renting the room, and_ _cleaning_ _would be done every day at 10:00 PM. When the receptionist was about to leave_ _,_ _he put his hand out_ _waiting to be_ _tipped, Drake slammed the door in his face thin_ _king_ _"_ _fucking leachers_ _"_ _._

"Okay Riolu, tomorrow we wake up early go and get a good breakfast before we go train in the park." Drake said. Riolu heard him and jumped with happiness as he had heard about their plans for tomorrow. Drake said his goodnight to Riolu, got into the bed and was fast asleep. Soon after Riolu followed when he had gotten the excitement of training out of his body.

 _The next day_

Drake and Riolu had woken up early to get breakfast at a small place. After finishing their meal, they went to the Saffron Central Park to begin their training. "Okay Lou, were starting todays training of with a light warm up run, then we move into building on what you were doing yesterday" Drake said, and Riolu wonder who Lou was. Drake saw that Riolu did not understand what he was talking about. "I thought Lou sounded like a nice nickname for you, is that okay?" Drake asked Riolu, who responded with a nod.

Drake and Riolu started running in the park. They followed the gravel path, it led them around different places and Drake realized that he was not in shape and had trouble keeping up with Lou. After their run they went over to the training area where they had trained for some hours yesterday. There Drake instructed Lou how to optimize his punches. As Drake was holding the punching bag he felt how hard Lou could hit.

 _They countuned like this until midday._

Drake and Lou were both starting to feel the fatigue of training for many hours in the sun. Drake told Lou to stop punching, they were going for a break. During the break, Drake told Lou what they were going to be doing the next 4 days. Tomorrow they would be focusing on building up stamina by running long distance and sprints. The day after, they would be focusing on evasion techniques. The day after, they would work on learning how Lou could fight more independtly. Drake had once seen one of the top tier trainers focusing on looking at the battlefield instead of shouting order to his Pokémon all the time. This had led the trainer to notice a small crack in the opponent's defense which he used against the opponent and had won the match. Drake of course knew that this was a high-level technique. Rather than starting late with that kind of training Drake thought starting early would give both him and Lou an edge in the upcoming battle. Hopefully this training program would properly prepare them for the battle against Toran.

 _The_ _days went by_ _starting their days with early morning, and_ _a break a midday to regain some stamina. After their break_ _s_ _they_ _trained_ _until dinner time, where they went and ate at different homeless shelters. After dinner they_ _traned again into the late evening_ _,_ _when they went back_ _to the hotel_ _and_ _slept as soon as they hit the bed._ _F_ _inally, the day of_ _the_ _battle had arrived._

Thanks for reading the first chapter of my story, I hoped you enjoyed it and somewhat got what I wanted to show with the first chapter. As you probably noticed, there been a depression in Kanto, and the world is not as in the games. This will be showed more in next chapter where Drake and Lou will be having their battle against Toran. More of Drake's backstory will also be explained and the story will dive deeper into how the world works and what Drake will be doing in his adventure. If you're pleased with the story, please leave a review and a follow! I hope to entertain you with a good story.

Drake's active team

Lou (Riolu): Known moves ?, ability ?, gender male. Caught first chapter.


	2. Life as a trainer

Hello again, peeps. I hope your enjoyed the first chapter, and is ready for the first battle in the story. And looking forward to a deeper dive into how Drake's life was before meeting Lou.

* * *

As Drake woke up, on the day of his battle against Toran. He thought "Why did I ever agree to this battle?"

He knew Lou was getting stronger, his opponent had served in the army. So, who knew how strong his Pokémon was. Drake could not back out of the challenge. He had sat the five-day time limit to make sure that Lou would be fully healed, and that they could train a bit.

The training had gone surprisingly well, at least to Drake's standard, for what was good. The last day had been the worst, trying to make Lou think independently had not gone well. Lou had been doing ten different training segments in the span of half an hour. Drake had stopped him, after seeing this and talked with him about focusing on one segment at a time. Lou had tried to understand it, but went straight back to his old ways. Drake knew it would requires months of training, to get Lou to a point where he could train his owns segments.

Drake looked at his watch and realized it was about time, for him and Lou to head towards the arena. Drake, went and woke up Lou from his sleep and told him it was time. Lou's quickly got up and did some light exercises.

 _Drake and Lou left the Pokémon Hotel after having paid their bill. The arena was in Saffron City's eastern Park. They arrived half an hour earlier than planned to warm up._

Lou jumped down from Drake's shoulder and started doing his warmup regime which also consisted of ten different segments.

Meanwhile Drake looked at the arena. The arena flooring was sandy, and roughly the size of a tennis court. To the left were benches, while there too the right was a high tower with a seat in it. There were no obvious hiding spots. Drake tried to form a plan in his head of how him and Lou was going to fight.

"Hey hero, how are you doing?" a deep voice said from behind Drake. Drake turned around and saw it was Toran. He was wearing the same black leather jacket, he had been wearing the day Drake had met him.

"Can you please stop calling me a hero! I am not a hero" Drake said with determination.

"Cheer up lad, just because you don't mean you're a hero, others do, myself included" Toran said.

Drake turned his back, to Toran and went over to Lou to talk plans with him. Toran went over to the other side and released his Pokémon. A black creature with long claws and a feather on its head came out. It started running around, warming up. Drake looked at is ran around, it was stupidly fast. Lou noticed too, and found the nearest thing he could punch, so he could get Drake's focus back on him. Sadly, the closest thing for Lou to hit, was Drake. Nonetheless that didn't stop Lou from punching him. As the punch landed on Drake, he fell backwards. Lou started giggling as Drake hit the ground. Drake starred angrily at Lou for having punched him to the ground. A deep laughter could be heard from the other side of the field.

"I have not seen something that funny since Lt. Surge got shocked by his Raichu" Toran said while laughing.

 _Out of a nearby pathway Avian the homeless shelters leader came walking with a lot of people in tow._

"Hello, my dears, you ready for a battle today?" Avian said.

Drake had gotten to his feet by this point and answered Avian's question with a nod. Toran gave a thumb up.

"Then let's get started" she said.

While Drake and Toran got into position on each of their end, the crowd sat down on the benches and Avian climbed the tower.

"This battle is between Toran Crowley of Pewter City, and Drake Clarkson of Saffron City. This battle is a one vs one, once a trainers Pokémon is knocked unconscious or forfeited, the battle is over." Avian said with a big grin on her face.

Drake understood the rules he had after all seen some battles as a child. "Trainers get ready!" Avian yelled.

"I choose you Lou!" Drake yelled, Lou jumped out on the field waiting for his opponent. "I choose you Sneasel!" Toran yelled, the Pokémon that had been running around the side of the field came charging into the field, and flexed its sharp claws. "Trainers let the battle begin!" Avian yelled from the tower.

"Sneasel us fake out" Toran commanded. "Lou dodge it" Drake yelled towards Lou.

Lou did not get the chance to react, cause when he started moving, the Sneasel was already in front of him and delivered a punch to his legs.

Lou collapsed, Sneasel then stretched his fangs ready to deliver a swipe. "Lou defend yourself" Drake yelled.

Lou heard this and grabbed the Sneasel's arm when it began its swipe towards Lou. The swipe connected with Lou's face. Lou however, had gotten a good grip on the arm, he delivered a clear punch into Sneasel's stomach. The Sneasel went flying as the punch connected, as it stood up it threw up. Lou wiped away the blood from his eyes.

"Sneasel don't get to close, use long range attacks!" Toran yelled.

Sneasel started forming ice crystals out of thin air. "Lou try and get close, you have the advantage in close combat" Drake said with a calm voice.

As Lou started moving towards Sneasel, it began throwing the ice crystals towards him. Lou dodge a couple of them, most of them still scratched and made cuts on his arm. The Sneasel started moving out of the way, when Lou began getting to close. The match continued like this for five minutes until Lou was breathing heavily from the damage the ice crystals were doing.

"Lou, change of pace, whip up some sand and block Sneasel's vision" Drake said worried. Lou started digging into the ground and throwing sand into the air. "Sneasel get close you need to find him" Toran said confidently. "Lou think for yourself now" Drake said. The crow looked at him wondering what he meant by that command.

Avian looked down at Drake, wondering why he, was trying to do something only experienced trainers would do. She looked back towards the field, Toran's Sneasel went into the sand cloud. And came flying out again, just like it had when Lou had landed a punch the first time. After getting up Sneasel began breathing heavily. The sand cloud started to disperse and Lou was also breathing heavily, from the hard work of creating the sand cloud, and then also delivering a powerful punch.

"Get in close again and use ice punch" Toran said. Drake said nothing he would let Lou handle it on his own. As Drake was analyzing the battelfield, waiting for the Sneasel to get close to Lou, he noticed it had dropped much of its speed. "Lou, attack!" Drake yelled. Lou began charging forward, preparing his fist to hit with full force. He could feel that he was about to drop, if he did not finish the match soon.

 _As the two Pokémons met each other at the center, their attacks collide with such force that a dust cloud was created._

Avian stood up from the chair, waiting for the dust cloud to disperse. When the dust cloud dispersed the Pokémons were both on the floor. Sneasel's arm had been twisted and one of its claws had broken off. While Lou's face had been slashed quite badly and had a deep cut. None of them seemed like they were going to get up anytime. As Avian was about to call the match a tie, Lou started to stand up. Drake took the pokéball of his belt and pointed it towards Lou and recalled him. "Drake has forfeited the match; therefore, the winner is Toran and Sneasel" Avian said confused.

 _Drake quickly got away from the arena and found the nearest Pokémon center._

He was lucky no one was in line for treatment. He went up to the desk and handed over the pokéball to the nurse after having explained why he had no ID.

 _The nurse went into the backroom, and Drake chose to sit down._

"If Lou had gotten up there, he would have gotten seriously injured. His legs were shaking too much for him to keep his balance." Drake thought.

He remembered why he had never gotten into the hole training world. He had seen plenty of young people die in battle both in a regular field of training and on the war fronts. Those days he hated to remember the most. He had joined the journalist corps of the biggest newspaper in Kanto after he had graduated. He had told his employer, that he was willing to cover military zones, since he had been in the army for four years. As Drake was sitting in deep thought the nurse said something that pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Sir, your Pokémon is ready to be picked up" the nurse said. Drake got Lou's pokéball. She told him that he should take it easy with training for the next two days.

 _Drake left the Pokémon center and found the nearest park so he could talk with Lou_

Lou materialized after Drake had pushed the pokéball. Drake quickly said, "I'm so sorry Lou".

Lou looked at Drake with his shining brown eyes, and released a small cry. The cry was weak. Drake fell to his knee after hearing the weak cry and hugged Lou.

"Lou I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry we lost, I'm so sorry you got hurt" Drake said with tears rolling down his cheeks. Lou released another cry and tears was also building up in his eyes. The two followed along crying and releasing small grunts. After a while Drake wiped away the tears, and stood up. He kept holding Lou in his arms.

 _Drake started walking towards the alley, him and Lou had met in for the first time._

"Can you remember this place?" Drake asked Lou.

Lou nodded, and started looking around. Drake started walking down the alleyway. The walk was done in silence none of the two said anything, you could only hear their breathing and Drake's footsteps. When they got to the end of the alley Drake said, "I promise that I will never let you get that hurt again Lou." Lou looked at Drake, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

 _Two days later._

The sun was high on Route 6, Drake and Lou had chosen to go towards Vermilion City. Drake knew he needed a trainer ID, so he could benefit of free housing in the Pokémon centers around the Kanto region. To do this he would need to get to the registration office in Viridian City. Why he had chosen to not go through Mt. Moon and Pewter City. Was because he had heard about the dangerous wild Pokémon living in the mountain region. Therefore, going southward first and then boarding a ship from Vermillion to Pallet Town had been the obvious choice. The time on the route would also let him and Lou train against wild Pokémon, and do their daily training. Since they were in no rush to get to Vermilion City. Their days began with most of their first hours awake training the basic techniques that they had begun upon in Saffron. The first day on their travels they had kept their training pace slow to make sure that Lou did not open his wounds. Other than that, they had not run into any trainers or wild Pokémons. The second day their pace of training had not gotten faster. Though they did run into a flock of Pidgey. The flock of Pidgey noticed the two of them, and one of them dared to challenge Lou. Drake decided it would be good for Lou to gain some experience fighting other Pokémon that did not have a trainer to assist them.

Lou had decided to use the tactic he had against Sneasel, where he limited vision of him by making a dust cloud. The Pidgey chose to run into the cloud to tackle Lou.

Lou could feel this, but did not know why. He used this strange feeling to predict how he needed to dodge the attack. He then launched a counterattack with 3 quick jabs to the Pidgey's head. The Pidgey dizzied by the punches slammed its wings against Lou. Lou blocked the attack. He could feel that his arms took a heavy toll blocking it. He then decided to close the gap, that was between the two and grabbed a handful of sand while running. In the meantime, Drake was making sure that the other Pidgey did not come their brave comrade to aid. As Lou got in range of the bird he threw the sand at it. The bird blocked it with its wing, but was not fast enough to react to dodge Lou's headbutt. The headbutt connected with such a force that the Pidgey was carried over Lou's back and landed on the ground. The bird was not getting up. Lou released a victory cry that sounded metallic. Drake then quickly recalled Lou to his pokéball and started running from the angry bird flock.

 _As they had gotten far enough away from the flock Drake released Lou again._

"Good job Lou" Drake said with a lot of enthusiasm. Lou jumped in excitement to show how happy he was. He then found the nearest tree and put a mark into it. "This must be his way of counting his victories" Drake thought. "Well time to get back on the route" Drake said out loud.

 _Their adventure continued in the same style training in the morning. Then traveling as far as they could get before needing to camp. They continued like this for five more days._

As Drake reached the top of a hill he could see the harbor of Vermillion in the horizon. Cruise ships were laying in the harbor. Drake hoped that there would be a ship that could carry him cheaply to Pallet Town. The supplies they had gotten before leaving Saffron, had cost him most of his savings. Therefor an expensive trip was out of the question and traveling by land would mean a longer trip. Lou sitting on Drake's shoulder noticed the ships and kept starring towards them. He wondered how such a big piece of metal could float.

They started walking towards Vermilion. Drake reminisced over an encounter that could have gone wrong.

An encounter with a Elekid had nearly ended in a shocking end. It had attacked out of the blue when Drake and Lou had passed by. Drake quickly realized that they needed to get out of their and therefore ran as fast as he could. The Elekid did not stop chasing them, luckily for Drake he ran into two rangers that he asked for help to stop the rampaging Pokémon. They did so and saved Drake and Lou from a quick ending to a short journey.

 _They arrived around noon in Vermilion._

Drake was sweating and Lou weight was starting to become bit of an annoyance rather than a training mechanism. As they got close enough to the city Drake noticed that there only were a few skyscrapers. Most of the town was built in terraced house quarters. Towards the harbors there were big storehouses to store the containers the ships brought in. Drake asked one of the locals where he could find a Pokémon center. The person said he could find the closest one, near the harbor, and that Drake just needed to straight from here and if he did so he could not miss it.

 _Drake found the Pokémon center quite easily and put Lou in the nurse's care._

While waiting for Lou to get healed up, Drake had asked some of the trainers in the lounge if they knew about any sailors sailing cheaply to Pallet Town. None of them could give him and answer most of them were still children. Drake felt very out of place, being probably more than double their age. There were some teens in the lounge but they kept to themselves and just told Drake to piss off.

"Drake is that you?" someone with a high-pitched voice said. Drake turned around to see a blonde-haired woman in her early twenties. "Rebecca?" Drake said. "Yes, what in the world are you doing in Vermilion?" Rebecca asked. "Eh, that's a long story" Drake answered. "I got time for a story" she answered.

 _Drake told the story of how he had ended up in Vermilion leaving out some details._

"Wow, that is a wild journey" Rebecca said amazed. "Is there a Drake in here? Lou is ready to be picked up" a nurse said. Drake quickly got to the desk and picked Lou's pokéball up. "Show me you partner" Rebecca demanded. Drake pointed towards the door and walked outside to let Lou out. Lou quickly materialized from the pokéball and noticed a woman to Drake's left side. She was staring at him, Drake introduced the two to each other.

 _A couple of hours later_

Rebecca had invited Drake and Lou into her room at the Pokémon center they had just left. "So basically, all you need is someone to sail you to Pallet Town?" Rebecca said. Drake nodded while he was petting the Purrloin Rebecca had in her room. Lou was sleeping next to Drake. "Do you know anyone that can help me?" Drake asked. Rebecca sat for a bit thinking. "Maybe I do" she answered. She left the room and said she would be back in a bit.

"Prrrruuu" the Purrloin purred. Drake had never seen a Purrloin before. Rebecca had told him that it was a gift from one of her friends from Unova. Drake knew little about Unova other than it was hard for foreigners to enter the country. Rebecca was a well know trainer, and had served in The Ranger Corps in Kanto. Drake had met Rebecca when he was writing an article about said corps. That was roughly 5 years ago. As Drake was thinking about the past the door slammed open and Rebecca came fuming in. "That idiot!" she said angrily. "How does he not get that he owes me a favor!" She said even angrier. "Calm down Rebecca" Drake said with a calm voice. "You want me to calm down, okay Drake battle me here and now!" She said annoyed.

 _The two of them and their Pokémon went outside to the battle arena build behind the center._

It was getting dark, and Drake had already annoyed Rebecca enough, so he had agreed to her terms. He knew how she was when she was angry. "Lou, you ready for this we can't annoy her anymore by not giving her a good battle, understand?" Drake said calm and collected. Lou nodded and went out on the battlefield. "Just so you know, Purrloin is my newest addition to the team, so I use her against you" Rebecca said with annoyance.

"Lou get nice and close!" Drake yelled. "Be ready" Rebecca said.

The two Pokémon clashed against each other delivering scratches and punches. Purrloin tried to dodge as many of the punches Lou was trying to land while scratching him when he dropped his defense for offense. "Lou don't drop you defense so often, you wear yourself out this way, use special tactic one!" Drake yelled.

"Get back Purr" Rebecca cried out. Lou stopped his offensive, and spun in a circle kicking up dust into the air. "PURRRRRR!" the Purloin cried as it lost vision of its opponent. "Purr use dark pulse to blow the cloud away" Rebecca commanded.

Purr started gathering the darkness in the surrounding area. Drake could not see what was happening since the cloud of dust also limited his vision. Purr released a dark wave of energy in the ground causing a shockwave to appear. The nearby lights flickered as concentrated darkness surged by.

Lou had in the charge up time snuck behind Purr, getting ready to hit her. Sadly, for him the disturbance of the light caused him to lose sight of Purr. "Purr finish him!" Rebecca cried out. From the darkness Purr came out with a claw swirling with darkness. As the claw landed Lou cried out in pain when he went flying from one end of the arena to the other end. "Lou" Drake cried out, while running towards him. Lou tried to get up but the claw had landed on his right leg and caused a massive cut into it.

"Stay down Lou I'm coming" Drake yelled while tears were starting to build up in his eyes. As Drake got close enough to Lou he picked him up and ran into the center to get him healed up. Rebecca quickly recalled Purr, and ran after Drake so she could say sorry.

 _Rebecca apologized to Drake for what happened while Lou was getting treatment._

"I know this is what I signed up for, when I became a trainer" he said, wiping away the tears. Rebecca hugged him telling him that she was so sorry she did not mean to injure Lou that badly. "Mister your Pokémon is ready to be picked up" the nurse said. Drake was told that Lou would be ready for more action the day after, the cut had not gotten into the muscles. The two trainers went to Rebecca's room to sleep for the night.

 _Next morning_

Drake woke up when he could hear Lou walking around on the floor. Lou was testing out his leg to see how much strain he could put on it. Drake got out of bed to look at Lou training his leg. "Want to go out to train?" Drake asked Lou.

Lou nodded and Drake quickly got into his pants and t-shirt. They asked the nurse on duty where they could train in the city and she told him that there was a training facility under the center he could use. Drake thanked her and followed the instruction she had given on how to get there.

As they entered the facility they saw five trainers already training. Drake was surprised with how little damage the facility had taken since he assumed many trainers used it. Lou quickly spotted the punching bag and started his punching exercise. Drake started doing some light weightlifting.

 _Hours went by down in the facility, Lou and Drake each did 5-7 different exercises and in the end finished their session up with a punching contest on a machine that measured their punching strength. Drake scored 150 points, and Lou scored 165 points._

"This is where you been hiding" Rebecca said, making sure Drake and Lou heard her. They both turned around sweating from top to bottom. "Eww you guys stink, go get a bath, I found someone that will sail you to Pallet, if you do him a task" Rebecca said worried. "Don't worry about yesterday Rebecca, Lou is already in tip top shape, and thanks for that, see you in thirty" Drake said exiting the facility.

 _Rebecca took Drake to the harbor where they found a boat saying "Willhelm's fortune"._

"Willhelm were here" Rebecca yelled.

* * *

And thus, this chapter ends. As you probably noticed Drake isn't the most experienced trainer. Well who would be after 14 days of getting your first Pokémon. We can't all be champions from the beginning. I hope you enjoyed the way I described the battles. I am not inclined to tell you what move the Pokémon's are using, but more trying to let you guess by the description of it. Only powerful moves will be described with a name, just like dark pulse or special moves that does certain things. As in the real world, when you battle injuries are bound to happen. Lou will be getting light injuries for what is happening now while training and battling since he is fighting against equally matched opponents. The Ranger Corps in this story is a militia the Kanto government has created to handle small scales Pokémon rampages. And yes, I know I promised you a deeper dive into the poverty of this world. That will be coming with Willhelm's task for Drake. Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it, leave a follow or a review if you did.


	3. Dangerous challenges

Hey Peeps welcome back to the next chapter of Drake and Lou's adventure, as you probably remember we stopped at Willhelm's boat. Where Drake would meet the man that would transport him to Pallet Town. Enjoy the chapter

* * *

As Rebecca called out for Willhelm, she moved her hand too her pokéballs. She had done business with Willhelm before that had not gone well.

An old man came out of the wheelhouse, he had a big grey beard, some of his hair still had a bit of its once blonde color. He was build muscular, over his right eye he had a clap. "Argh, dear Rebecca what brings you and your friend here today?" the man said.

"You know what we are here for Willhelm" Rebecca said, keeping her hand at the ready to release a Pokémon.

Drake had Lou out, Rebecca had warned him that he should be ready for anything. As he was a shithead with too much money.

"You want me to sail that lad there, too Pallet if I remember correctly" Willhelm said with a smirk on his face. "Yes sir, I want to travel to Pallet Town, I know you want me to do something, can you tell me what my task is so I can get it started?" Drake said with respect.

"Lad stop being a polite fuck. I'm a sailor talk my language. My task for you is to capture a Trapinch from the construction site near the east side of town" Willhelm said, measuring Drake from top to bottom.

"Yes sir, I get going straight away" Drake answered. "Boy, how will you capture a Pokémon without a pokéball?" Willhelm started laughing. Rebecca was beginning to worry, she could only imagine where this was going.

"Sir, I will try and raise some funds to buy one. However, that will probably take a couple of days. Therefore, if you can wait with setting sail I would appreciate it" Drake said pleasingly.

"Lad, I can borrow you two pokéball, however if you fuck up and does not capture it. I make sure no sailor will let you on their boat" Willhelm said threateningly.

Drake gulped when he heard that comment. "So, lad do you want to borrow the pokéball? Cause I am only in this harbor until tomorrow" Willhelm said grinningly.

"Yes sir, I take accept your challenge" Drake said, determined not to fail Sir Willhelm.

Willhelm threw two pokéballs towards Drake, who caught them with ease. "Oh, and Rebecca you stay here, I can't have you helping him catch it" Willhelm said.

Rebecca looked worried at Drake, he had never caught a Pokémon before. Drake asked Willhelm for direction. Rebecca could feel the determination Drake was showing and released her breath that she had been holding in. Willhelm told Drake how to get there, and looked forward to seeing the result. Drake started walking towards the site, leaving behind Rebecca and Willhelm. "Rebecca get on board, we got things to discuss" Willhelm commanded.

 _Drake and Lou walked towards the construction site. Drake wondered how he would capture a Pokémon and what he would do if he failed._

The construction site was surrounded by a fence, on a sign was written private property of Willhelm Smithz. Drake looked around for an entrance and found one. The site had been readied for laying the foundation of whatever would be built here.

"Lou get ready, we got to capture that Trapinch" Drake said, wondering how a Trapinch looked. As the two of them started walking around the construction site. In the shadows of some building material an orange ant looking Pokémon was staring at the two. It wondered what they were doing on its turf. Once it felt like they were out of range, it started burrowing.

Drake and Lou were walking close to each other. As Lou felt that strange sensation he had felt when fighting against the Pidgey. This time though it was coming from bellow him. He quickly turned around and punched Drake to the ground. Straight after he jumped backwards to dodge whatever was coming from bellow. He evaded it in the last second, as a giant mouth came flying of the ground trying to bite him. Drake who had been surprised by the punch from Lou now saw what could have bitten down on them. The flying Pokémon landed on the ground. Lou began charging towards it preparing for a fight.

 _Meanwhile on Willhelm's fortune._

Rebecca was walking the gangway. Still keeping her hand near her pokéballs just in case. "Miss, don't worry I won't be hurting anyone today, so take your hands away from those pokéballs" Willhelm said promisingly.

Rebecca did not do as he said, she knew how this man worked. "You still don't trust me after last time?" Willhelm asked.

"No, you hurt my sister" Rebecca said. "Only reason I am talking with you again is to get Drake to Pallet Town" She said determined not to be intimidated by him.

Willhelm turned his back towards her and walked into the wheelhouse, "I said that was a slight mishap on my part, she should not have been near me battling against that Gyradose" Willhelm said sounding sad.

Rebecca followed along, she knew how sad he had been since that accident that had caused her sister to lose her eyesight. However, something had made her sister to unable to tell her what had really happened during that trip. The wheelhouse was equipped with the newest equipment showing of, how well equipped The Fortune was.

 _Back at the construction site_

Lou charge against the Trapinch had surprised it. The punches came flying out of nowhere. Quickly one punch to the big mouth, then when it flew up Lou delivered two fast blows to its belly. The last two punches sent it flying towards the foundation hole. Drake quickly got up, "Lou, don't let up the assault we got the advantage for now!" Drake yelled.

Lou followed up on Drake's command and rushed towards Trapinch, this time the Trapinch however was ready for it. It lifted its upper body and stomped the ground, causing a wave of dirt to head towards Lou. Lou gracefully jumped over the wave of dirt. As he landed another wave came in and threw him backwards. While he got back up on his feet, Trapinch had burrowed back underground preparing another sneak attack.

Lou tried to sense where the attack would come from. This time the strange feeling did not appear. Trapinch's attack was successful in throwing Lou up into the air where it then bit down on Lou with it big teeth's. Lou released a loud cry as it bit down on him. The Trapinch started throwing around with Lou while he was biting down on him. Lou prepared a punch, though he knew he could not land it. He punched as he was thrown to the ground, instead of hitting Trapinch it seemed as he missed. Trapinch took this chance to prepare another throw, suddenly it was hit by a big air wave, that made it loosen its grip on Lou.

Drake took this opportunity to run in and kick the Trapinch. The kick connected to the side of the Pokémon and made it fully loosen its grip on Lou. Lou started to stand up, his right arm was bleeding heavily. Trapinch looked at the person that had just kicked it. It released a screech that made Drake's ears cry in pain. Drake covered his ears as the screech was bringing him to his knees due to the ringing in his ears. Lou saw the Trapinch running towards Drake. Lou prepared a punch to stop the Trapinch from biting down on Drake.

 _Meanwhile in the wheelhouse_

"Who is this man you want me to carry too Pallet?" Willhelm asked while he was preparing some tea water.

"He is an old friend from my military day" Rebecca answered. "Earl grey or blackberry?" Willhelm asked. "Grey please" Rebecca answered.

"So, he is an ex-militia, long time since I met on of those guys" Willhelm said. "He is not a ranger, Lou is his first Pokémon, he served in the regular army" Rebecca pointed out.

"Ha-ha, I sent that lad, to a death sentence then, that Trapince is guarding my construction site, I bought it from a trainer that needed a ride to Cinnebar" Willhelm laughed.

"You did what!" Rebecca screamed out. She rushed towards the door, before she got to it Willhelm had grabbed her arm. "Miss, I would not be leaving if I were you, I want to see his skills, if he can't even handle such a challenge then he won't be able to survive on the road" Willhelm answered coldly.

Rebecca starred at him with such an anger and decided to sit down, hoping for Drake to come back in one piece.

 _Back at the site_

Lou punched into the air hoping for another successful attack like he had done while he was being thrown around. As the Trapinch jumped into the air an air wave hit it again. The wave sent it flying backwards hitting the edge of the foundation hole. Drake's ears had stopped crying, and as he saw the Pokémon laying near the edge, he prepared a pokéball to try and capture it. The pokéball went flying, hitting its mark. The Trapinch was sucked into the ball. The ball started shifting from side to side. As it kept doing this, a bright light shined from the pokéball and Trapinch materialized again. "Damn, not successful, Lou can you keep going?" Drake asked worried. Lou nodded, and prepared for another round.

Trapinch was angry now. It prepared to stomp the ground again to give it time to burrow underground again. The wave came rolling towards Lou and Drake. The two of them started running towards them. Lou evaded them with grace, while Drake jumped as high as he could too dodge them. Lou was prepared for more than one wave and did a flick flack to get over the next wave of dirt. He could see Trapinch beginning to burrow its way down into the underground. Lou focused his power into his legs and sprinted towards it. Trapinch had not been fast enough to burrow, so Lou's attack connected. Smashing it into the foundation hole.

"Lou after it I be right there!" Drake yelled, as he dodged the last wave of dirt that Lou had dodged. Lou jumped into the hole feeling his legs shaking from the force of the sheer drop. Trapinch was getting up from his fall into the hole. He charged toward Lou that was stabilizing from the fall, preparing it teeth to crunch bones.

Luckily for Lou, Trapinch speed had dropped significantly, since the beginning of the fight. Lou stabilized fast enough to prepare a defense. As the Trapinch jumped towards Lou, he ducked down so that the attack flew over him, and spun around to kick his opponent. The counterattack succeeded and Trapinch was sent flying into a wall.

Drake jumped down into the hole, hoping that his legs could handle the force. As he landed he did a barrel roll to lessen the burden on his legs. As he got his face facing towards the battle he saw Lou kicking Trapinch into the nearby wall. "Nice our counter training is beginning to pay off" Drake thought.

 _Meanwhile on the Fortune._

Rebecca was beginning to worry more and more; Drake and Lou had been gone for over an hour now. Also, being in Willhelm's company did not help. The man was pissing her off more and more while he was talking about his adventures at sea. She hated rich bastard that thought they could mess arounds with people's lives like they were toys. The Ranger Corps had thought her life was a precious resource that could be taken away all too fast. She remembered the first time she had been called out to site where a Tyranitar had gone berserk and killed two young trainers that had crossed its path.

The trainers had just begun their journey and had decided to go towards Mt. Moon to try and capture a strong Pokémon. This had led them into a clearing where they had run across the Tyranitar. The rangers in a nearby area had received a SOS signal from their Pokédex, but had not been close enough to get there on time. When they had arrived the Tyranitar had just bitten of the head of the last trainer. Both rangers had then tried to subdue the Pokémon. This had required more than one sacrifice from their Pokémon's that had held out until Rebecca's unit had arrived. "Miss you're not looking too good drink some more tea" Willhelm said worried.

"Thanks, just remising about ranger missions" Rebecca said, trying to hold in her disgust of Willhelm's voice.

 _Back at the construction site_

Lou was breathing heavily from the last attack he had done. The bleeding on his right arm did not help either. Trapinch was starting to look worse for wear too. As it began a new charge towards Lou, it moved sluggishly so Lou dodged the move with ease. As he dodged he tried to land a punch, he failed however his left arm was starting to feel numb too. The two Pokémons tried this at more time each time failing to connect an attack.

"Lou, let me handle the rest" Drake said as he recalled Lou. "Hey Trapinch, I know your too exhausted to keep fighting, why not join me and Lou on an adventure?" Drake said, while slowly walking towards Trapinch. Trapinch stared at him, the last trainer he had been with had sold him to this horrible old man, that had put him to guard this construction site. Drake had gotten awfully close by now, he was nearly in range to be bitten. However, he did not seem afraid of getting close to Trapinch. Trapinch noticed this and decided to give up.

Drake took out his last pokéball, and threw it towards Trapinch. The pokéball connected and began shifting from side to side. After shifting for one minute the ball pinged. Drake picked up the Pokéball, and looked for a way out of the hole.

 _Drake climbed out of the hole and went to the Pokémon center near the harbor._

As Drake entered the center he went and stood in line to wait for getting treatment. As Drake had handed over his pokéballs, he headed straight to the phones so he could call Rebecca. The phone rang for a bit.

"Hello this is Rebecca Pritzly, who am I talking with?" she asked. "Hey Becca, you're talking with Drake" he answered. "Drake are you okay?" she asked worried. "Yes, I'm fine, just getting patched up at the center, then I be straight over" he answered to lessen Rebecca's worries. "Good to hear looking forward to seeing you" she answered, exhaling heavily.

"Drake Clarkson, your Pokémons are ready to be picked up" the nurse said. "I got to run Becca, I be over in ten minutes" Drake said cheerfully. "Okay see you then" Rebecca said.

Drake got told that Lou's right arm had been broke and would need two weeks of healing before he could use it fully. Trapinch had only taken minor injuries and would be fit to fight within a couple of days. Lou had not been put back into his pokéball, since he needed to wear a cask around his arm. Drake picked Lou up and headed towards the Fortune.

 _A few minutes later_

The sun was setting in the horizon when Drake arrived at the Fortune. "I'm back and I completed your task!" Drake yelled, while he sat Lou down. Rebecca came running out on the deck, she looked horrid, if she had been in a nightmare while he had been gone. Willhelm came humping out smiling. "Lad, you say you completed the task?" Willhelm said grinningly. Drake took the second pokéball off his belt and released Trapinch. "Meet Titus the newest addition to my team" Drake said proudly.

"That's a fine one you caught their lad" Willhelm said. Willhelm analyzed Titus to notice if it was the one he had bought. It seemed that way, it had gotten stronger during the time it had guarded the site.

"Lad, you're ready to set sail in two hours?" Willhelm asked. Drake nodded, he wanted to get going as soon as possible. Rebecca went up to hug Drake. The two of them embraced in a hug. "Sir I be back in an hour" Drake said, while still hugging Becca.

 _The two of them left towards the Pokémon center to pick up Drake's luggage. While walking back Rebecca told about her sister._

"Becca, I know you worry about me, but I can handle myself" Drake said confidently. His voice calmed her down. Lou also let out a small cry to say that he would protect him too. They both giggled as they heard Lou, "Thanks Lou" they both said at the same time.

Drake went up into the room to get his equipment. Lou and Becca sat down on a bench in the lounge, where Lou proudly told about the battle he just had fought.

As Drake came down the stairs, Lou was telling about another battle he had fought with Drake. "I'm happy your Drake's partner Lou" Rebecca said giggling. Lou gave her a fist bump appreciating Becca friendship. "Lou, you're ready to leave?" Drake asked. Lou rose from the bench and ran towards Drake, that picked him up and placed him on the shoulder. "Thanks for everything Becca, I call you once I am in Pallet" Drake said. "Be careful out on the sea, there are strong Pokémon at sea. And Willhelm has lost his touch as a trainer" she said worrying about his safety.

 _Drake hugged Becca and left towards the Fortune._

"You're ready to set sail captain?" Drake yelled when he was in range for Willhelm to hear him.

"Lad, I've been ready to sail since you left to capture Trapinch" Willhelm answered. Drake climbed onboard and placed his equipment in the wheelhouse. He then proceeded to help prepare the boat for departure. They had the boat prepared within half an hour, and sat sail towards open sea. As they sailed out of Vermilion City, they passed many of the big cruise ships. Drake was told by Willhelm that he owned the one called Diamonds Ace. That ship was bigger than any of the others Drake could see in the harbor. It was roughly 1000 feet long, had five decks that were visible. Drake let out Titus so he could get used to the sea since they were going to be on it for a week.

 _The trip started out with stable sea, the two men shared stories about their experience with trainers. Drake told about his time as a journalist. While Willhelm told him about his adventures sailing trainer all over the region._

As the sun rose on their fourth day of sailing, the weather turned rough. The wind became stronger and the waves spilled over the deck. Drake made sure to recalled Titus and told Lou to stay in the wheelhouse.

"What can I do captain?" Drake asked Willhelm. Willhelm pointed toward the sail, and told him he needed to reel it in. Drake went outside to do just that; the wind was strong and hit Drake's face. The waves kept crashing in on the deck, trying to make Drake's task harder to do. As he got to the sail, he started pulling, the wind made the work hard and tiring as it kept pulling in the sail. When the sail finally was fully raised, Drake noticed that in front of them there were a twister. Drake ran back into the wheelhouse to warn Willhelm about the incoming danger. When Willhelm heard the warning he quickly tried to steer them out of the danger.

"Lad grab this and let it out in the water. We're going to need her, if we want to survive" Willhelm commanded. Willhelm threw a pokéball toward Drake who grabbed it and made sure to hit the water with the red beam.

A Pokémon with a long blue neck appeared, on its back was a big shell. It quickly adjusted to the rough sea. Willhelm yelled something from within the wheelhouse, and the mysterious Pokémon apparently heard the command that Drake could not hear. The Pokémon started swimming towards the bow of the boat. Drake moved toward the bow to see what it was going to do about the twister. The Pokémon released a powerful beam of light that looked like a spear made of ice. As the spear of ice connected with the twister it shattered, the Pokémon however kept firing beam of ice in a rapid pace. Drake noticed that the twister was losing strength each time a beam hit it.

"RAHHHHHH" something in the distance cried out. A red eye flashed in the distance. "LAD GET INSIDE NOW AND TAKE THE WHEEL!" Willhelm yelled. Drake rushed to take hold of the wheel, while Willhelm got out more pokéballs. Drake could not see anything from within the wheelhouse, he could barely see the first Pokémon he had released. He just made sure that he could see it. A flash of light struck upon the sea. Another loud roar was released.

 _Drake kept following the mysterious Pokémon for hours. While doing this Willhelm was handling the situation outside on the sea. This kept on until a bloody Willhelm came walking into the wheelhouse._

"Captain, what happened?" Drake asked worried, he was not a seasoned sailor that could get them to Pallet from wherever they were. Willhelm did not answer him, and just went straight for the medicine cabin where he pulled out bandages and a bottle of rum. He looked at Drake and told him to be fucking focusing on steering while he patched himself.

Drake did as he was told, and made sure to stay away from the question of what happened. As the sun was beginning to break through the clouds, Drake noticed land in front of them. He knew they had been on the sea for five days. Rebecca had told him that getting to Pallet Town from Vermilion City would take roughly eight days. How in the world was land in front of them then? The radio on board the Fortune put out a rough voice "Hello Fortune, welcome to Pallet Town, this is the coast guard, what is your business in the harbor?" Willhelm took the radio to answer, "This is Captain Willhelm of the Fortune, I am currently carrying a passenger from Vermilion City to Pallet Town".

The exchange of communication went on for a couple of minutes until Drake was told to piss of so Willhelm could sail them into the harbor. Drake walked out on the deck where he saw that they were beginning to sail into Pallet Town. The town was one of the smallest one in Kanto, as it had been a small fishing village during the industrial revolution, and it had been on the side of Kanto that had not been evolved as fast as the mainland cities. It had kept its rural approach to nature and let the nature envelope the city. Pallet was famous for having many friendly wild Pokémons, due to their close bond with nature. The harbor also only contained small fishing boats and two speedboats that the coast guard were using. Everything was so old that Drake thought he had traveled back in time.

 _The Fortune was led to a spot in the harbor where they could dock. Drake and Willhelm quickly docked._

"Thanks captain for letting me sail under you" Drake said with gratitude. "Piss of lad. I could have been here faster if I you had not been such a land crab" Willhelm said angrily, his arm was bandaged well, and his breath smelled heavily of rum. The two of them met the coast guard at the piers entrance into the town where they were questioned about their whereabouts. Drake told them he was traveling towards Viridian to get a trainer ID, and that Willhelm had captained him to Pallet.

The two of them was allowed into the city after answering the question, Drake had asked how he got to a Pokémon center and had been told the only one that could take care of Pokémons in town was the professor. Drake said his goodbyes to Willhelm and thanked him again for the help.

 _Drake followed the instruction the coast guards had given him on how to reach the professor's lab._

As he had gotten into the town he had released Titus so, Lou and he could be joined by their latest companion after having been stuck in the pokéball all day. The professor's lab was hidden behind two pine trees, so Drake had a hard time noticing the building. When they were close enough to see its structure, there were many areas where windows had been smashed, and a plank of plywood had been placed to cover it up. The door to the building was hanging. Drake knocked on it before entering the building.

"Hello is Proffesor Oak in?" Drake wondered if the guards had been messing with him. He heard something rustling in the back of the building, Drake decided to investigate what it was. Inside the lab there were many bookcases where there once had been books. The lab also contained some big tanks that had been destroyed.

"Hello is anyone here?" Drake asked while Titus was trying to adjust to the darkness. Lou was trying to use that strange feeling to tell if they were in danger. Out of the darkness four bat looking creature came flying towards them. Titus quickly went into action to defend Drake.

Titus got ahold of one of the bats, forcing it to the ground delivering a powerful bite that crushed its head. Lou tried to land a punch, but failed in doing so, the cask on his arm weighed him down too much. Drake defended himself by dodging and weaving and delivering fast jabs to the bats. Titus got in front of Lou to take an attack he could not defend, the bat crashed into Titus. As the bat's attack hit, Titus turned around and tore its wing off with a powerful force. Drake delivered two jabs too another bat that tried to hit him. The jabs sent it flying into a bookcase that then crashed down on top of it. The last bat that were in the group fled from the battle.

"Guys let's get out of here, and look for someone in town that knows where the real lab is" Drake said while he was panting. As Drake turned around he heard another groan, from the back of the lab. "Okay, whoever's there come out into the open" Drake commanded. From the shadows of a bookcase a young boy with a red cap walked out. "I'm sorry sir, I was just looking for a Pokémon" the boy said. "What's your name boy, I'm not going to hurt you I was just looking for the professor" Drake said with a calm and collected voice. "I'm Red, can you maybe take me home sir" Red asked. Drake took Red's hand and asked him where he lived.

 _The two of them and the Pokémons left the building and headed towards Red's home._

Red's home was in the northmost part of the city, they had walked past a lot of abandoned houses, the economic crisis had hit hard in the outmost region of Kanto. Drake had been in Saffron City for the last two years suffering in the big city he could not imagine what was happening in a small town like Pallet. Too Drake's surprise though the people they met while walking Red, home were friendly and happy to meet a new person. Lou and Titus enjoyed all the nature that was while walking Titus had fun scaring some Pidgey, while Lou tried to strengthen his left arm so he could defend himself while injured. Red was amazed at what Lou and Titus were doing, he had only seen Pidgeys and Rattatas in the town. And then Drake was such an amazing person, being able to defend himself from those bats. Red hoped he could become like Drake one day.

Red's home was a small cabin, that was constructed of pine wood. It was one of the better kept houses so far as Drake could notice. At least Red had a family that could take care of him. "Red, I think it's about time we part ways, I got to find the professor and make him treat Lou and Titus" Drake said.

Red looked at him and said, "The professor doesn't live in Pallet anyone, he moved to Viridian due to financial problems." Drake sighed, and was about to ask if there were anyone else in Pallet that could treat Pokémons,

Red however caught Drake by surprise saying, "My mom worked for the professor for a while maybe she can help you."

"Thanks Red, I won't bother your mom to look at the two of them. Viridian is not more than two days walk from here" as Drake said that, a woman with chestnut brown hair came out of Red's home. "Red, how many times have I told you to tell me when you go out?" the woman asked.

"Sorry mom I forgot. I ran into Drake here when I was rummaging through the lab, and his Pokémons need treatment is that something you can help with?" Red asked.

"You went to the lab; how many times have I told you that place is dangerous! And was it Drake? Thanks for helping my dumb son here. If your Pokémon need treatment I can handle it" Red's mom said, and went on with scolding Red for his trip to the lab.

Drake called Lou and Titus over so Red's mom could look at them. Red's mom introduced herself as Kendra Birmington, while treating Lou and Titius. Kendra told Drake that Lou's arm was healing well, if he did not overuse it, he would be fit in a weeks' time. Titus however was in tip top shape and was probably reaching a point where he would choose to evolve. Drake was surprised by the statement about Titus, he knew Titus was strong but not that strong. Once the treatment was done, Drake said his thanks to Kendra and Red, for their help. He also asked them for direction to the route leading to Viridian City.

Red jumped up and said he could follow Drake to the route. Kendra gave Red a look that could kill, and told him if he did not come straight home after showing Drake the way, he would be in house arrest.

 _The four of them left Red's house and walked towards the entrance to the route._

The four of them were at the route entrance within twenty minutes. As Drake was analyzing the sign with the route map on it Red asked him "Drake when will you be back?" Drake turned around and thought about it,

"I don't know what I will be doing once I get my trainers ID, maybe I head towards Mt. Silver or into Viridian Forrest for a couple of weeks to train." Drake answered.

"You be coming back within a couple of weeks, by then I will have gotten my first Pokémon from the professor" Red said excited, nearly jumping out of his shoes.

"Red here is an advice stay in Pallet Town for a couple more years and learn your Pokémon before beginning on your journey, I have read to many stories about young trainers dying" Drake said trying to sound knowledgable.

"My mom won't let me leave Pallet, before I turn thirteen anyway so don't worry about it" Red said, trying not to worry Drake anymore.

"Well that's a smart mom you have, I think I got to get going if I want to cover some distance today, and you better head home now" Drake said, and then went and have Red a hug.

Red said goodbye and said he hoped to see him back here soon so he could meet his first Pokémon.

 _Drake and his two Pokémons then went on to travel Route 1, it took them two days to cover the distance from Pallet to Viridian City. Nothing special happened while on Route 1. It was one of the least dangerous routes in all of Kanto after all._

Titus was the first to set sight on Viridian City. Lou and Drake was right behind Titus however and just took a slower approach to climbing the hill. From the hill they could see the Pokémon center, the first place they were going once they got there.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the third chapter in Drake and Lou's story. This chapter was quite hard to find a good spot to end at, I was thinking about letting Drake get all the way to Viridian and then doing some story there. Instead I chose to show how much the economic had affected small towns like Pallet. And surprise Red is here, one of the best trainers in the Pokémon world. Of course, Drake will be the main protagonist since Red is too young to go on a journey. I hoped you could handle the jumping between Titus mission and the Fortune, I wanted to show off how bad a person Willhelm is and how cruel the world can be to trainers. And sadly, Lou got injured badly. However, he will be seeing action next chapter where Drake's rival will appear. Leave a review and a follow if you want to know when I updated again. Summer break will soon be upon me so I have a lot more time to write soon, so expect faster chapter updates.


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